Up Against It! Texas Rangers Lose Again, Race For Playoff Spot Tightens

The Texas Rangers, suddenly, are facing a win-or-go-home situation.

The Seattle Mariners beat the Rangers for the second consecutive night, 8-0, Friday to cut Texas' lead atop the American League West to one game with two remaining.

The Houston Astros (88-72) beat the Arizona Diamondbacks to pull to within a game of the Rangers (89-71). The Mariners (87-73) pulled to within two games of Texas with the final two games set for 6:15 p.m. Saturday and 2:10 p.m. Sunday.

The Rangers entered their four-game series Thursday with a magic number of two, meaning any combination of Rangers' wins and Astros' losses equally two meant an AL West title for Texas. The Rangers only need to win one of their final two games or have the Astros lose one of their final two games to secure a Wild Card spot.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays (89-71) won Friday to keep a hole on the second of three Wild Card spots. The Blue Jays have a one-game lead on the Astros (who are currently owners of the third Wild Card spot) and a two-game lead on the Mariners.

The Mariners scored three in the third and five more in the fourth against Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi. Ty France and Josh Rojas each homered in the third to get the scoring started for Seattle.

Four of the first five batters reached against Eovaldi in the fourth before Brock Burke took over with the bases loaded and one out. J.P. Crawford hit a grand slam on a 3-1 pitch to blow it open, 8-0.

HE. IS. THAT. DUDE. pic.twitter.com/kfiWirkrdI
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) September 30, 2023

Mariners 8, Rangers 0

Here are the key moments from Friday's game:

Blown Saves City

Thursday night's loss was the Rangers' MLB-high 33rd blown save this season. That ties the franchise record set in 2002 and is one shy of matching the all-time MLB single-season record of 34, set by the Rockies, Phillies and Nationals in 2004 and 2021. The Rangers had 33 blown saves in 2002.

Walk It Off

The Rangers were handed their tenth walk-off loss Thursday night, the fourth-most in the majors in 2023. Cleveland and San Diego each have 11 and the Chicago White Sox have 10. All three of those teams below .500. or at .500 in the Padres case.

It's the third time in the past 32 seasons (since 1992) for the Rangers to have 10 or more walk-off losses.

They had a franchise record 14 in 2002 and also had 10 in 2013.

Six of thee 10 walk-off losses have come since the All-Star break and five have come since Aug. 13, an MLB high in that stretch.

Error Free For Seventh Straight

About the only positive from Friday's 8-0 loss? It was the Rangers' seventh consecutive errorless game. Texas has an A.L.-high .990 fielding percentage. The current paces would easily set a franchise record, which is currently a .986 mark in 2021...club's current 57 errors are 26 less than the full-season low for miscues set of 83 in 2021.

Up Next

Left-hander Andrew Heaney (10-6, 4.28) faces Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (14-8, 3.20) in Game 3 at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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